Rich Dad, Poor Dad Abridged

Rating:
Summary: Great eye-opener
Review: This poorly written and apparently unedited book contains many valuable nuggets of financial wisdom. Kiyosaki tells you how to think and what to do in order to become wealthy. You'll have to suffer through his repetitive writing style, but he shares some solid things worth knowing. It's a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to outperform the low expectations they assimilated from their working or middle class family.

Rating:
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: This is an average book - doesn't take too long to read and you probably will never read it twice. I am amazed that it has been on the bestseller list this long, but the book does have some good points.

Kiyoasaki basically stresses that while hard work does make money, investments make more money. You can waste your life away working for an employer who will capture most of your value added, or you can invest in real estate or whatever and make money just sitting there.

This main thesis leads to more ideas: college is not the best path for everyone, negotiation is key, etc. But 90% of the book just emphasizes over and over the above point. I found it enlightening but a bit repetitive.

I think Kiyosaki downplays the risks to investments though - you could lose everything, whereas working for an employer the most you can lose is your current income stream. Also, if everyone subscribed to this theory, a huge real estate or stock bubble would emerge. I think it is safe to say that not everyone is jumping aboard, but with or without his book, bubbles do develop in investing and you could get creamed (anyone remember real estate in California during the 80s?). I think he does talk about stock bubbles in another book, but seeing as he has about 20 books out now, I wasn't about to go read all of them. What he needs to do is condense them all into one and then you might have a solid read with a real thicket of information. As it is, I think the book has one really good idea that is repeated over and over. So buy it if you feel my explanation hasn't been thorough enough, but there isn't that much more there.

Rating:
Summary: I wish I had money
Review: I read the book and invested in Content Management Stock. Now I am poor, my wife left me and my car got stolen. But at least I have time to watch my superman movies along with my friend, the Invisible Man.

Rating:
Summary: Sad, pathetic
Review: I read this book after hearing great reviews about it, but I was shocked by the lack of specifics and the sad disdain this guy apparently has for his father who wasn't rich enough for Kiyosaki. What's worse, much of the book seems to be completely fictional.

Kiyosaki starts the book by talking about his 'poor' childhood in Hawaii, which frankly didn't sound too bad. Yet that doesn't seem to stop him from disdaining his real father who had the misfortune to become a middle-class college professor rather than an idealized Trump-like executive. His bitterness over these circumstances lead him to take every opportunity to humiliate his father by talking about how he never was more than middle class--as if that's something shameful. (This is extremely weird because 'Rich Dad' was never really his dad at all--just some guy who gave him financial advice. Stranger still--it seems very likely that this character has been created completely from Kiyosaki's imagination.)

If you want better insights into how middle-class people can build wealth, you're better off reading 'The Millionaire Next Door'. It talks about saving and scrimping and not being a showoff with your money. Like Not Buying Rolex Watches.

Rating:
Summary: This book inspires me
Review: I'm 18 Years old and doing a Business degree with majors in Accounting & Finance, before I read this book I was on track to becoming another standard middle class drone. All I was interested was getting good grades so I could get a good graduate position with a big 4 accounting firm and then work my way up the corporate ladder.

Now the only thing that I'm interested in is coming up with ideas for businesses and investments. I no longer just go to college to pass the exams; instead I go to learn how I'm going to use the techniques in the real world so that I can get on the fast track to wealth.

This book really did change my mind set, and that's all anybody should expect from this book and not to get some hot stock tip or secret real estate ideas.

I'm now reading Cash flow Quadrants & finding it really good for cementing the ideas of the first book. I'm looking forward to reading rich dad's guide to investing after this.